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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Regretted a popular name?

98 replies

stellarfox · 22/06/2021 19:43

Has anyone given their child a top 10 name and regretted it as there are so many around? We’re finding it hard to agree on names but both quite like one that’s in the top 10. My worry is there will just be so many around, although I don’t personally yet know anyone of this name! I had a fairly uncommon name so I had the opposite growing up. My partner had a fairly common name but says it didn’t bother him and there weren’t that many others around

OP posts:

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Cottoncandyandpeaches · 22/06/2021 20:12

I had a Joshua and ten where born in the year after him-he was one of four in his year alone
I do have regrets as for the year he was born it was so damn popular
Not much I can do now but I would have gone for something a bit less common if I could do it all over again

DramaAlpaca · 22/06/2021 20:15

One of my sons has a popular name, but as it turned out he was always the only one in his class. It never bothered me when we chose it, I loved the name so much I had to use it and have no regrets.

LordFoofingtonismyMaster · 22/06/2021 20:17

Inadvertently picked a very popular name for dd2 not realising it was becoming and has been very popular since. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. There is no other name that would have suited her as much!

BunnyRuddington · 22/06/2021 20:19

I suppose it doesn't matter if you don't mind them being called by their last name as well. DD had 4 or 5 Oliver's in her class at Primary, all known by their first dnd last name.

MegaCityOne · 22/06/2021 20:24

I chose a top ten name, as it was a family name and one I had always liked. He has been the only on in his class, and haven’t ever regretted going with what we liked. Think I would be more annoyed if I had picked a different name and there was no one else in the class called the popular name.

user159 · 22/06/2021 20:28

My DD is in the top 10 - doesn't bother us at all. Both DH and I have popular names (for their time at least!) so we didn't see it as an issue.

ChilliChaos · 22/06/2021 20:29

My 2 dd’s have names that are now in the top 20.
Ds1’s name is in the 1000’s and ds2’s name there were only 5 born that same year - and one of them is in his nursery class 🤦🏼‍♀️

I love all my dc names and wouldn’t have changed my mind about them if they were #1 in the charts.

Daisy829 · 22/06/2021 20:30

My daughter is an Emily which is meant to be a popular name but she has no classmates or friends with the same name. I was surprised by that to honest.

BunnyRuddington · 22/06/2021 20:31

ds2’s name there were only 5 born that same year - and one of them is in his nursery class

Wow, what are the chances of that?

Violetlavenders · 22/06/2021 20:33

I suppose it doesn't matter if you don't mind them being called by their last name as well. DD had 4 or 5 Oliver's in her class at Primary, all known by their first dnd last name.

This.

In our scouts group we have 4 Harrys and two have a very similar surname.

And a very popular name isn't as memorable as a more unusual name. I know soo many adult Steves and Clares for example....

lobsteroll · 22/06/2021 20:38

I don't think it matters if you love the name.

They are in the top 10 for a reason - because they are nice names that a lot of people like.

nicknamehelp · 22/06/2021 20:40

mine had top 10 names and never been in a class with another child with same name even in large high schools. We just picked what we liked.

ChilliChaos · 22/06/2021 20:43

@BunnyRuddington

ds2’s name there were only 5 born that same year - and one of them is in his nursery class

Wow, what are the chances of that?

Tell me about it!

They both go by the same nickname too, but luckily the other parents spell it with an ‘ie’ ending and we spell with a ‘y’ so no surname added.

They’ll be going to separate reception classes in September and Sod’s law there’ll be another one in his new class 😂

spookycookies · 22/06/2021 20:43

My friends daughter signed the Father's Day card first and last name as this is what she is known as at school.

JeanClaudeVanDammit · 22/06/2021 20:45

Out of the top 10 names in England in 2020 I know 4 from the girls’ list with only 1 where I know more than 1 of them. 6 of the boys’ names. I know a lot of under 5s.

There was some bizarre localised glut of Hugo’s when DD was born so I know 5, 3 of which are in her class at nursery.

DD’s name is outside the top 100 but I still met a little girl with the exact same first and middle name at church.

If it’s the name you both like I wouldn’t let popularity put me off.

blueshiningsea · 22/06/2021 20:45

Have 4 children all in the top 10 names and I love their names so don’t care. Only 1 has a another child with the same name in their class. Go with what you like x

Angelica789 · 22/06/2021 20:51

How popular a name is nationally will not necessarily reflect the situation in your school or neighbourhood so everyone’s experiences will be different. There are no top 10 names in my son’s class but a couple of pretty unusual girls names are duplicates. Another class has 3 boys with a name that is top 50 (just checked) but no other duplicates.

However there’s not a really a way of knowing this information in advance of having to name your child!

CroydianSlip · 22/06/2021 20:52

I am one of those names for our generation (it's a family name and my parents knew no one called it until..) and in my class at infants we were known by our first and either middle name or last name. The middle name thing wasn't foolproof as middle names were as uniform!

I like my name and it's inoffensive but even now, I am known by my last name, or my husband's name (x and y) for eg, as everyone has several friends called my name it's a bit wearing tbh.

MrsUnderkracker · 22/06/2021 20:53

Both my children have top
ten names .

To us, they're the only ones in the world with those names.

Doesn't bother me at all. They are named after relatives so the names chosen are deeply personal.

Violetlavenders · 22/06/2021 20:53

They’ll be going to separate reception classes in September and Sod’s law there’ll be another one in his new class

There were only 5 born in all of England in one year. And 3 of those 5 live in your town?

MaMelon · 22/06/2021 20:54

Nope - I picked the names I liked (good solid biblical ones that go anywhere) and didn’t care about their popularity. We’re the only family in this country with our surname so that gives us the uniqueness that many people seem to crave.

Original poster

stellarfox · 22/06/2021 20:55

@BunnyRuddington Our child will have a double barrelled name so would be a bit of a mouthful if they have to go by that all the time really! Or maybe they’d just lose one of the names perhaps

OP posts:

SisterAgatha · 22/06/2021 20:56

I am an adult with a top ten name from the 80’s. My name has a connotation, there are lots of famous ones. I don’t use it where I can, I use a nickname.

Original poster

stellarfox · 22/06/2021 20:57

Thanks all I kind of wish I’d not looked on the ONS and just picked without knowing the popularity. There are some less popular names we like too but I think I’ll try not to think about it and see what suits them when they arrive

OP posts:

Smartiepants79 · 22/06/2021 20:57

We picked a top 10 name without even knowing.
She’s still the only one in her year group of 120 kids.
I love her name, I’ve never got the thing about unique names.
Just pick what you like.

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